(Dungeon library first floor)

On one of the days Lyra visited the library to talk to Alice she took notice of our empty shelves’ “you guys should really get some books in here”, to this question both me and Alice can do nothing but sulk, noticing the atmosphere reaching freezing point Lyra did the only thing she could do in this situation, “uhmmm would you like this book I found the other day?”, instantly the atmosphere clears up and gets warmer as Alice and I are ecstatic to get our first book.

Seeing how enamored with the book we are Lyra takes this chance to quietly get out of the library as to not disturb our reading time, “let’s read this together.” I ask Alice to which she nods her head.

A primer on the physiology of dungeon monsters

By: The wondering scholar

An introduction on dungeon monsters

Dungeon monsters are monsters that are made and formed in dungeons, I use the term made or formed as dungeon monsters are not born naturally like the monsters we see above ground, dungeon monsters are instead created from the concentrated mana within the dungeon, Since dungeon monsters are formed from concentrated mana they come into the world fully grown and able to fight and think as if they had lived to that age.

It has been observed that newly born dungeon monsters will lose fights to its counterparts in the wild that have lived to roughly the same age as the dungeon monster, showing that even though newly formed dungeon monsters are formed into this world as fully grown adults of their race, they lack the combat experience one would find in a wild monster.

As of now I have only been about dungeon monsters, but we must still address monsters that appear in true dungeons, to those who are clueless as to what am referring to, you may know true dungeons as mana dungeons in the west and spirit dungeons in the west, as to where I have come across the term true dungeon I was explicitly told this by an dungeon avatar when I was interviewing them for my other book “A primer on true dungeons”.

Going back to the topic at hand, monsters from true dungeons are different from dungeon monsters as dungeon monsters are made completely from condensed mana, whilst true dungeon monsters are also made from condensed mana but what sets them apart from dungeon monsters are the fact that they also use a medium or catalyst for their body.

By using catalysts and mediums in addition to mana gives true dungeon monsters a more solid body then their dungeon counterparts and in turn more powerful.

while on the topic of catalysts from my travels to the four true dungeons, I have found that the oldest true dungeon uses plants and flowers as catalysts, the second oldest uses confectionaries such as sugar candy and caramel as catalysts, the third oldest uses weapons and various metals as catalysts and the youngest uses not elements as some had thought in the past but a new substance that has many variations called “chemicals” as it’s catalyst.

As such the creatures that are created using these catalysts take on the attribute of the catalyst when using sugar candy for example as a catalyst for monster creation is will result in a monster with an incredibly sticky body.

Within true dungeons there exists a unique type of monster, which has been termed boss monsters by many adventurers, these monsters has been called as such because of their tendency of appearing at the end of some floors acting as it guardian (Note: Guardian monsters were also a term which was debated whether to be used or not but ultimately lost to boss monsters in terms of popularity.)

These monster are also known to be monstrously strong, boss monsters can be found in key locations like in between floors, guarding key points and guarding dungeon hearts, while it has been debated how a true dungeon produces a boss monster most theories are found false or misinformed, there has been a theory that has been rising in popularity in recent times.

The theory is called the “soul theory”, it states that boss monsters are unique in that it holds a special soul within its body, to understand “soul theory” we must first understand named monsters, monsters which have a name are powerful and usually highly intelligent (Note: for a monster).

It has been speculated that names hold special powers and meaning to monsters, though it is still a mystery how a monster gets its name and why something common among humans and beast-men is so rare among monsters.

Moving back on topic, “soul theory” states that having this special soul grants monsters, even more, power than a name, a boss monsters soul is bound to its true dungeon this idea has been tested and confirmed that boss monsters return to life after being killed retaining its memory.

This has been seen in tests where adventurer groups had been hired to repeat the same trap over and over again on a boss monster, over the course of days it had been observed that the boss monster was learning, after every death the boss monster would not repeat the same mistakes that lead to its death and before long the trap no longer worked on the monster.

The next part of “soul theory” is highly theoretical and should be treated as an idea rather than truth, upon being killed the soul will then be returned to the dungeon heart where its body will be remade using a catalyst and condensed mana, once the body is complete the dungeon heart will then place the soul into the body reviving the monster and returning back to its place in the dungeon(Note: many have guessed that this form of soul manipulation is similar in effect to those of the warlock).

While “soul theory” still has to be proven true or false many of the facts and tests that have been performed leans this theory towards being true.

That being said we will be moving back to true dungeon monsters, normal dungeon monsters may drop mana crystals upon defeat, true dungeon monsters may drop items apart from their catalyst upon defeat, and this has been seen as materials such as pelts, meat, sweets and in some cases the weapons or armor that the monster was using.

Since dungeon monsters will only on occasion drop mana crystals upon defeat, true dungeon monsters have a more physical body thanks to their catalysts, this allows true dungeon monsters to drop items, these materials are stronger and more durable than their non-dungeon counterparts.

Items dropped from true dungeon monsters have been found to have mana weaved into its very being, which has been unheard of until now, many have related this to the condensed mana used to create monsters, since true dungeon monsters have a more physical body the condensed mana starts to set into their bodies making some aspect of them “real”, so when the monster is defeated that aspect of the monster does not disappear and instead stay as physical material.

So far we have only covered many introductory things about monsters as you read on we will be diving into more complex and theoretical theories about monsters in the upcoming chapters.

I have Alice close the book upon hearing that someone was entering the library, that person turned out to be Lyra who came back with treats for Alice who was pretty excited since it was a type of sweet she had not seen before, deciding that this was enough reading for the day, I let Alice enjoy her treat and her chat with Lyra, I just sit back and listen to them.

Really now its lazy days like these that make me feel at peace, I hope just hope these type of day continue to last forever.